How to pick psychopaths among us

EVER wonder what it takes to be a psychopath? Many with psychotic traits can be found in boardrooms and government

“Damn it! I’m going to be late for my meeting!”

Robert, an ambitious CEO for a multinational corporation, was to announce his clever shotgun takeover of yet another firm at that morning’s boardroom roundtable. Instead, stuck in traffic, he looked down at his watch and shook his head in disgust. He climbed out of his Porsche and slammed the driver’s door behind him. His eyes surveyed the devastation covering the landscape. Two transport trucks had collided, causing a domino-effect of bloody carnage. Emergency responders were on the scene, and anxious spectators gathered at the roadside. Some quietly wiped tears from their cheeks, while others made no such effort to conceal their grief.

But Robert thought not of the people who had just lost their lives only a few metres away from where he was standing; he thought not of his wife and children, who were themselves on their way to work and school. Unlike the others, who watched the emergency crews valiantly fighting to preserve life, Robert was instead fascinated by the sight of all the grieving faces around him. He found the emotions perplexing. Amusing even. It was as though he were studying an alien life form.

I wonder why on earth they’re upset, he thought. What the hell? They didn’t even know these people. They’re just strangers!

Just then, an elderly lady standing next to him reached out and grasped his forearm. She looked up at him, tears welling in her swollen eyes.

“It’s terrible, isn’t it? So many innocent people hurt …” she said, through her dry, quivering lips.

Robert forced a frown and averted his gaze to the bloodied pavement, as he nodded his head in feigned agreement.

But he had simply learned the words; he knew not how to make the music.

For, although Robert is a successful and prominent businessman, and a trusted neighbour and family man, he’s also afflicted with a severe personality disorder.

Robert is a psychopath.

It’s a scary and unsettling truth that between 1-5 per cent of the world’s population are full-fledged, clinical psychopaths, some of whom are born to kill. Yet a large majority of psychopaths are “subclinical,” meaning that they embody a wide - but not full - range of psychopathic traits. They’re able to lie, cheat and steal - even kill - without feeling any remorse or concern for their victims, while leaving a trail of tears and destruction in their wake.

And it’s not that they don’t know the difference between right and wrong; they simply just don’t give a damn. These emotionally vacant people walk freely among us, and chances are good that we’ll unknowingly encounter at least one on any given day. With true chameleon-like abilities, most psychopaths will travel right under our noses without any of us being the wiser. To most, psychopaths seem charming, intelligent, completely normal and in full control of their lives. Lucky for us, they’re not all serial killers.

But not all serial killers are psychopaths either. Surprisingly, when assessed at an arm’s length for my book, Camouflaged Killer, Colonel Russell Williams, who bound and raped four women and bludgeoned two of them to death, was deemed not to be clinically psychopathic. He scored just above average on the PCL-R test (Psychopathy Checklist-Revised, the accepted yardstick for clinical diagnosis by psychiatric professionals). Remarkably, the same has been said for Adolf Hitler.

The shocking reality, however, is that very few psychopaths are violent criminals. A great many of those who harbour psychopathic traits can instead be found in boardrooms, legislatures, and even upper levels of government (a perspective likely observed by English writer Douglas Adams, who once mused: “Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job”). Some of the greatest achievers throughout history have probably been psychopaths. Drawn to positions of power and prestige, they represent many of the movers and shakers, cage rattlers and fence climbers in our society.

They’re found within the ranks of CEOs, corporate managers, soldiers, test pilots, spies, lawyers and politicians of all stripes. On average, they are extremely intelligent and have higher than average IQs. They’re also crafty, manipulative, controlling and usually very successful at what they do. Risk-takers by nature, they’re relentless in the pursuit of their goals, and their unyielding determination often earns them golden rewards. Success at any cost can be completely justified. All of which makes them natural born leaders - a reason they’re often recruited to such powerful positions in the first place. In psychiatric circles, these non-violent versions are known as “white-collar psychopaths.”

“Some are able to use their psychopathy to carve out success in business and other niches of life where individual excellence, leadership, confidence and strength can take you far,” explains Dr John Mitchell, chief psychologist at the United States Penitentiary in Allenwood, Pennsylvania.

But it has always been the psychopathic killers who intrigue us the most. They shock, fascinate and even entertain us. If nothing else, they make for very colourful characters. And that’s why there are no shortage of them in books and movies. Sometimes, they’re even the good guys.

Take James Bond, for instance. One of the most popular and enduring movie franchises, not only does each installment feature at least one psychopathic villain, but the protagonist - James Bond himself - is also a very likely candidate for this unflattering designation. Some have even called him “the perfect psychopath.” In fact, it’s likely that one of the reasons we’ve embraced the Bond series for half a century is the inevitable and explosive death match waged between two equally matched and strong-willed psychopathic opponents.

Despite their penchant for causing harm (and even death) without remorse, psychopaths are known to be both charming and charismatic, and for exuding a calm confidence (often to the point of being quietly egocentric or narcissistic). They’re impulsive, manipulative, strong of mind and fearless. Often quite popular in social settings and at work, many are very promiscuous, tending to have several random and short-term relationships. Most likely because they can.

Often male, psychopaths embody the qualities of the quintessential, uninhibited alpha male. For that very reason, many women find themselves inexplicably drawn to these irresistible, “bad boy,” take-no-prisoners player types - which, in turn, fuels the psychopath’s already grandiose sense of self-importance, whereby he believes that the rest of us are merely facilitators for his goals. They can readily read others, and assess their vulnerabilities with ease. Those around them are regarded as either objects, tools, targets or obstacles. Quite simply, we’re their pawns, to be quickly discarded once we have served our purpose.

Now, if that doesn’t sound like a textbook definition of our most famous fictional British spy, I’ll eat my Walther PPK.

“Bond has always been a bastard,” says Bruce Scivally, co-author of James Bond: The Legacy. “Sure, he’s charming and has the airs of a gentleman, but when the chips are down, he’ll twist you around in the middle of a dance so that it’s you, and not him, who gets the bullet in the back.” After which he’ll probably smirk and utter a saucy quip before dashing away.

But if he is a psychopath, at least he’s a suave and honourable one - and on our side. “Were [Daniel] Craig’s Bond to be captured and brainwashed and used against us, we’d be in big trouble,” jokes Scivally.

Others, however, like Dr. Michael H. Stone, a professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University in New York City and author of The Anatomy of Evil, believe that Bond simply exhibits several psychopathic traits but is not a clinical, card-carrying psychopath.

“Bond, being ruthless, daring, going by his own rules, absurdly brave and fearless, has some of those ‘psychopathic’ traits but lacks the ones that are totally repugnant socially, like total callousness and absence of remorse,” says Stone. “He’s not a true psychopath.”

“Most spies have some of those [same] traits. They can lie and hide behind false identities better than you and I, for example. But they are capable of loyalty to their country, and of obeying orders from their leaders - unlike the true dyed-in-the-wool psychopath, who wouldn’t give a sh*t for what the boss thought and would be loyal to no one but himself.”

But if Bond himself is not a clinical psychopath, no one argues that his opponents fail to make the grade.

Scivally believes that the ruthless and conniving Le Chiffre (a Bond adversary in Casino Royale) is one of the most formidable psychopathic villains in the history of 007’s cinematic adventures. A private banker for terrorist organisations, Le Chiffre is a chess prodigy, a brilliant mathematician and a criminal mastermind.

“[He was] a cold and calculating killer. Le Chiffre almost got the best of 007 at the gaming table, tried to poison Bond and then administered one of the most grueling tortures ever seen in a Bond film,” Scivally says. “And when Steven Obanno [another villain] threatens to slice off his girlfriend’s arm, Le Chiffre doesn’t shed a single blood-stained tear" (his physical trademark is a scar circling his left eye, with a derangement of his tear duct that causes him to weep blood).

But in spite of Le Chiffre’s many psychopathic traits, there is an even bigger threat to mankind in Casino Royale.

“As dangerous as Le Chiffre appeared to be, he was small potatoes compared to Mr White, the man who pulled Le Chiffre’s strings. As a member of the mysterious Quantum organisation, Mr White is a slippery eel of a villain whose ultimate goals have yet to revealed,” says Scivally.

Compelling characters like Bond and Le Chiffre, as with all psychopaths, are so strongly goal-focused that their lust for victory overpowers any sense of risk or consequences. Those with this mindset simply do not fear or respond to punishment. They’ve got their eye on the prize, and that’s all that matters to them.

“The true [clinical] psychopath … is an extreme case,” says Dr Stone. “They’re no longer of any benefit to society.”

So what makes a psychopath, and can they be cured?

Social scientists believe that a toxic mix of genetics and environment are responsible for producing psychopathy. Recent studies by Nashville’s Vanderbilt University show that there are genetic predispositions for the disorder, and that a hyper-reactive dopamine reward system may serve as its foundation. These biological conditions may then be further enhanced by other environmental influences. For instance, one recent study suggested that adults who were neglected by their mothers as children were more likely to have difficulty feeling empathy and were also predisposed to other psychopathic traits.

Others argue that the condition may simply be a strategic evolutionary change of the human mind. Perhaps we are becoming more Spock-like by trading weak human emotions for powerful and unmitigated logic. It’s an argument that may have merit.

So is psychopathy a matter of “bad” wiring, or simply a different kind of wiring? Are all psychopaths to be feared and avoided? Or is there any room, in a case such as empathy-challenged Robert, for sympathy - or, perhaps, as in the case of corporate saviors, heroic soldiers and world-saving spies, even reverence?

Regardless of the answer, great efforts continue to be invested to find a treatment or cure. But, for now, such a remedy remains an unattainable brass ring. “It is likely that a cure for cancer will be found before psychopaths can be routinely treated and cured,” claims Peter Vronsky, in his book, Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters. One thing is certain, though: If scientists are successful in developing a cure, psychopaths will not be lining up for the treatment. In their eyes, they don’t need fixing.

So the best we can do in the meantime is to take inventory of our own vulnerabilities and try to protect them from attack. That, and just strive to maintain a peaceful coexistence with these remorseless and incorrigible human piranhas, who hide among us behind their masks of sanity.

“PSYCHOPATHIC TRAITS”

While most of us tend to think of a psychopath (or sociopath) as simply a deranged individual who can kill or maim without feeling any remorse or compassion, that’s an oversimplification of a very complex condition. There’s actually a lot more to it than that. Actual psychopathy requires the coexistence of several key indicators. Here are some important ones to watch for:

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